Japan's New Economic Association Joins US Big Tech To Protest EU Cybersecurity Label Rules

Hiroshi Mikitani (left) Chief Executive Officer Rakuten (photo: x @hmikitani)

JAKARTA - The employers' group, Japan's New Economic Association, has joined the US's Big Tech to warn against the rules of cybersecurity labels proposed by the European Union (EU). They said the rules could hamper their access to the EU market. This information was revealed in a letter sent to the EU industry chief.

The European Union plans to establish an EU certification scheme to ensure cybersecurity of cloud services and assist governments and companies in the bloc in selecting secure cloud providers for their businesses.

One requirement is that non-EU cloud companies such as Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Microsoft (MSFT.O), and others must form a joint venture with EU-based companies to qualify for EU cybersecurity labels have sparked criticism from several EU countries and foreign vendors.

"This could create barriers to de facto market access, detrimental to EU and Japanese companies," wrote associate director Hiroshi Mikitani, of Japan's New Economic Association, in a letter sent to EU industry chief Thierry Breton on November 28.

"We believe that the EUCS should be revised taking into account the EU-Japan Digital Partnership, Japan-EU reciprocity arrangements, and the Principle Agreement on Negotiations on the Provisions of 'Data-Free Alliance' in the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement Agreement," he added., quoted by VOI from Reuters.

The EU Commission has not made direct comments regarding this matter.

Japan's New Economic Association is a business lobby group focused on e-business and the development of new industries. The group has several leading business leaders and is led by Mikitani, who also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of e-commerce and Japanese fintech companies, Rakuten.